Earlier today at Korakuen Hall, WBC Muay Thai Japan held one of its biggest events to date in which Rajadamnern Stadium Super Featherweight champion and WBC World Featherweight champion Jomthong Chuwattana took on K-1 -63kg 2010 tournament champion Tetsuya Yamato, along with 5 WBC Japan titles and 1 International title up for grabs.

In the main event, Tetsuya Yamato looked to defeat a second straight Thai and prove that his somewhat embarrassing loss to Saenchai was not a statement of how much better Thai fighters are. Unfortunately for Yamato, Jomthong Chuwattana was the much better fighter, making himself hard to hit for Yamato while producing his own offense. Jomthong won on scores of 50-47(x3) and has now won 8 of his last 9 with a loss in August being the only blemish on his record in 2011. Yamato is now 3-2 on the year with losses to Jomthong and Koya Urabe. Although Yamato won last year's K-1 tournament, he took a lot of criticism for his loss to Saenchai, as well as a dominating decision loss to Koya Urabe after the tournament and it seemed to diminish his K-1 tournament win completely. A draw with MMA fighter "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura at Dynamite and another loss to Urabe haven't helped stop the criticism, but it is interesting to note that since 2007 Yamato has only lost to Urabe, Saenchai, Jomthong, Kanongsuk Weerasakreck and Densiam Lookprabaht.

In the co-main event, Japanese sensation Erika Kamimura claimed another title in defeating WBC International Light Flyweight champion Denise Mellor by knockout at 1:49 into the 1st round. The 18 year old is now 23-1 (12 (T)KOs) and scores another quick, impressive knockout over a foreign fighter. Kamimura is set to take on fellow Shootboxing star RENA on November 23rd at RISE 85.

Former NJKF champion and defending WBC Japan Lightweight champion Rashata continued his reign of terror over former AJKF Featherweight champions, this time defeating Hiromasa Masuda by 5 round unanimous decision on scores of 49-46, 49-47 and 48-47 and defending his WBC Japan strap. In 2010, Rashata defeated 3 former AJKF champions in Hisanori Maeda, Genki Yamamoto and Masahiro Yamamoto, with the last of those three netting him the WBC Japan title. He took a loss to the rampaging Kanongsuk earlier this year, but has now added another former AJKF champion to his list of wins. Up next for Rashata is likely another title defense against the young Keijiro Miyakoshi. For Masuda, it's a 4th straight fight without a win and with Genki Yamamoto and Hisanori Maeda retiring, as well as Naoki Ishikawa's sudden retirement announcement, the 38 year old may see it fit to call an end to his 15 year fighting career.

WPMF Japan Flyweight champion Ryuji Kato got revenge for a 2010 loss by besting WBC Japan Flyweight champion Naoki Otsuki over 5 rounds on scores of 50-47(x2) and 49-46 to capture the WBC Japan Flyweight title. Otsuki had been riding high in 2009 and 2010, winning 4 straight and capturing the vacant WBC Japan title with a win over Kato. However, his 2011 has come to an abrupt halt as he is now 0-2 after being upset by Team Dragon's Hiroyuki Yamano back in July. For Kato, there aren't a lot of options for a next fight, though a superfight with WBC Japan Bantamweight champion TOMA could be very interesting.

Speaking of TOMA, he also managed to pick up a WBC Japan title, defeating #2 ranked NJKF Bantamweight Kojiro by unanimous decision for Arashi Fujihara's recently vacated Bantamweight title. TO-MA has now won 6 of his last 7 in which he picked up the WPMF, M-1 and J-NETWORK Super Flyweight championships. His only loss was to former WBC Japan champion Arashi Fujihara at It's Showtime Japan 1, so a rematch, although interesting, could probably use a few months more in between. In the mean time, a defense of any of his titles could keep him busy, though a super fight with Ryuji Kato would be the most interesting.

WBC Japan Super Lightweight champion Seiji Takahashi continued his reign as champion with a unanimous decision win over J-NETWORK Super Lightweight champ Yusuke Sugawara. Sugawara was just upset at Shootboxing by MMA fighter Shigeki Osawa and this loss doesn't help ease that wound. For Sugawara, a third attempt at beating Koji Yoshimoto will likely be in his future. With a lack of challengers, Takahashi could see himself fighting a Krush regular, possibly Hideaki Yamazaki some time in the future.

In the night's final title fight, 19 year old Ryuya Kusakabe knocked out #1 ranked NJKF super bantamweight Rookie in the 5th round to capture Genji Umeno's recently vacated WBC Japan Super Bantamweight championship. This was Kusakabe's first fight since having his 7-fight win streak snapped by Shota Takiya in the finals of the Krush 55kg tournament. After vacating his Shootboxing title, I cannot imagine Kusakabe wants anything more than a rubber match with Takiya in Krush. Rookie still has a chance to capture the NJKF Super Bantamweight title against Hiroshi Senchaigym.

Finally, talented prospect and NJKF Lightweight champion Keijiro Miyakoshi picked up another win, this time a 5 round split decision over J-NETWORK Lightweight champion Akihiro Kuroda. The fight was supposedly for the right to face current Welterweight champion Yuya Yamato, however both fighters fight at a lower weight, and it could have been for the right to face Rashata. Either way, Miyakoshi would probably opt for the shot at Yamato, as Yamato recently defeated his brother Soichiro Miyakoshi for the WBC Japan title. {jcomments on}